Luck & Chance
by SenseiZuma
Summary: When Naru gets Mai involved in something that gets her near-fatally injured, it's up to him to support her until she can work again...even if it means giving her his room. NaruxMai, R&R please!
1. Chapter 1

**Ok...this is my first Ghost Hunt fanfic, so please be nice!!! Read and review!!**

**Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own any of these charactes or Ghost Hunt itself.**

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**CHAPTER 1**

"So what's the problem?" Takigawa asked, leaning forward in his chair.

Ayako, Takigawa, Mai and Naru were gathered in the main room of a large house, just down the road from Mai's school. It had been a busy month for the ghost hunters- and this case promised to be well-paid.

"There have been a number of incidents in the house since last November," the woman said. "Since my father died. My husband fell off a ladder and broke his collarbone. We thought it was just bad luck, but two weeks later, my brother fell off the roof and broke his skull. And four weeks ago, my mother died from falling down the stairs. Visitors to the house- postmen, delivery men- they've all been chased away by a violent wind, and roof tiles falling."

"All these accidents occured after your father's death?" Ayako asked. The woman nodded.

"Mrs Tejioka," Takigawa asked. "Was there anything that would have provoked your father into causing all these accidents after he died?"

"I can't think of anything," the woman said. "There are no feuds in the family, everyone got what they were left on his will."

Naru had remained silent throughout the meeting, but now he leaned forward and spoke. "Monk-san, call Masoko and John, we'll need them for this. Mai, page Lin, ask him to bring his camera and the equipment necessary. Ayako, we'll need you to perfom an exorcism later."

"So you are able to help?" said the woman, sounding relieved.

"We'll try," Takigawa said, winking at her and sauntering out, mobile in hand.

* * *

John arrived first, clutching a Bible and candles. 

"What's the problem?" he asked.

"Violent spirit of some sort," Mai said. "Ayako's going to try exorcising it first."

John raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Ayako's exorcisms rarely had any effect whatsoever, unless they were around nature- which seemed to be in short supply around this house. It looked more like a morgue.

"Hey, John," Tekigawa said, leaning out from the main room. "Masoko's not here yet?"

"She should be in in a minute," John replied. "She was coming up the road when I got off the bus."

Sure enough, a minute later, the door opened and the tiny psychic came in, looking around her.

"Hey, Hana-san," the monk said. Masoko nodded towards him in reply.

"Do you feel anything, Masoko-san?" John asked quietly.

Masoko nodded, her eyes opened wide suddenly for dramatic effect. "There's a great disturbance here...only one spirit, and it's very angry."

"Angry about what, though?" Mai said, half to herself.

"Who knows," Ayako said, appearing beside Takigawa. "Naru's persuading the family to look at the will now, and Lin's questioning everyone."

"Lin?" Mai said. "When did he arrive?"

"About five minutes after you paged him," Takigawa said. "Through the back entrance."

They all paused for a moment to wonder at Lin's seemingly magical- and completely creepy- fast appearances everywhere.

"Oh, and the family have said we're to stay overnight if need be," Ayako said. "Although I wouldn't stick round here tomorrow for anything."

"Why not?" John asked.

"Have you seen the place?" Ayako asked with a patronising tone. "It looks like death itself.

"I wouldn't stick around here too long anyway," Bou-san said. "If the spirit's angry then it won't want people invading its territory."

"But maybe because we're not connected with the family?" Mai said hopefully.

"Visitors aren't spared," Ayako said. "We checked it up on the records. 21 people affected in total, including the family."

"And each injury grows steadily worse," Takigawa said. "From cuts to deaths."

"But the last person affected died," Mai said. "What could be worse than death?"

Silence filled the hallway as all eyes turned to Mai accusingly for daring to tempt fate.

"Well, I'll stay," Masoko said. "If Naru does. I'm not scared."

"It's not a question of being scared or not!" Mai snapped in a way most unusual for her. "It's a question of whether you want to live or not!"

Masoko's eyes narrowed, and she would have retorted had Lin not appeared silently from a doorway further down the hall. He nodded at them to follow him.

* * *

Naru was sitting in the room at the head of the table, studying documents carefully. 

"This is the will?"

The woman nodded. "It is. Everything was done according to it."

Naru looked round the assembled family members. They all nodded.

"We all saw the will," a young man said. "We would have known if something hadn't been done fairly."

"I see," Naru replied. He leafed through the documents for a minute, before glancing at the clock. It was 6:00 pm. Mai noticed it- so Naru didn't want to be here overnight, either.

"Very well," Naru said. "Ayako, you will try to exorcise it first. Masoko, where is the spirit presence strongest?"

Masoko thought for a minute, looking around.

"Outside," she said, sounding surprised. "To the back of the house."

"The family graveyard," the woman said. "That's where we buried him."

Ayako nodded and swept out of the room. Takigawa grinned at the others.

"Lets see if it actually works this time..."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own any of the characters or Ghost Hunt itself.**

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****CHAPTER 2**

"How come everyone always feels the need to watch my exorcisms?" Ayako asked, irritated, as the entired group clustered round.

"We want to master the technique ourselves," Takigawa grinned. "Because we need to be here if you get into any danger, duh."

Ayako shrugged and turned away, facing the dead man's grave. She raised her arms up high, before beginning to chant.

"10 quid says it doesn't work," Takigawa whispered to Mai. She glanced up, before looking around. Her eyes fell on a tree behind Ayako.

"You're on," she muttered back. Naru, who had apparently heard them, glanced their way briefly. Mai could have sworn he'd had a hint of a smile on his face.

Ayako had reached the climax in her exorcism. Impressively, she yelled something several times at the top of her voice, before dropping to the ground dramatically. She stood up, triumphant.

"Ther-"

A gust of wind shot at them, knocking Ayako over. Mai squeezed her eyes tight against it, grabbing something to prevent her falling over. On the wind, she could hear a voice, low and roaring something incomprehensible. Leaves blew against her face.

Finally, the wind ceased. She opened her eyes.

And found Naru's staring straight back into hers, a mixture of amusement and something she couldn't quite make out in his eyes. Mai dropped her arms immediately from where she had been holding him.

Realising that she'd grabbed him pretty much around the waist during the spirit's 'appearance', Mai turned a shade of beetroot red and sided away from him. Masoko was glaring at her. Obviously their recent 'friendship' talks meant nothing when it came to actually touching Naru.

Ayako picked herself up off the ground.

"It's a different type of spirit to what I thought," she huffed as all eyes turned towards her. Takigawa held out a hand to Mai, who wearily handed him a ten pound note.

Naru checked his watch. It was 7:30 pm.

"John?"

John looked up at the mention of his name, to find everyone- excluding Ayako, who was stalking back towards the house, brushing dirt off her robes- staring at him.

"O.K," he sighed. "Someone get me my Bible."

* * *

"Our Father, who art in heaven..." 

"Does this usually work?" whispered the woman, who had decided to join them, to Mai. Mai nodded.

"Most of the time," she replied. "But usually the spirits aren't as...angry...as this one. There's something not right..."

"Give us this day our daily bread..."

A rooftile slid down the roof and smashed on the stone floor just behind Takigawa, who jumped and looked up. John's eyes flickered briefly to the cause of the noise, before he focused harder on the Bible. Lin stared pointedly and unblinkingly at the roof.

"As we forgive those..."

Another roof tile fell.

"John..." Mai said, watching as yet another one dropped to the ground with a resounding smash.

The wind picked up again briefly, blowing soil across everyone's feet. The woman began to tremble.

"Tell him to stop it," she said. "It'll kill him!"

"John!" Mai yelled. "Stop!"

"And lead us-"

"STOP!"

John stopped abruptly, staring up at Naru, who was positioned directly in front of him, his hands covering the words of the Bible.

Mai glanced at the roof. No more tiles were falling.

"Well, that was useless too," Ayako said irritably.

"Not entirely," Naru said. "Look."

John twisted round, as everyone stared at something behind him.

The flowers covering the dead man's grave had moved, swept aside by some unnatural force. The soil, which should have been firmly set into the ground, looked as though it had been pushed back into the grave in a hurry.

"Lin?" Naru said. "Get the shovels."

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**CLICK IT**

**You know you want to.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Sadly I don't own any of the characters or Ghost Hunt itself.**

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****CHAPTER 3**

Four hours later, Mai stood, exhausted and sweating, by the side of the grave, carrying a shovel. The ground had been filled in with rocks, and it had only been by Takigawa's mainly useless efforts and Lin's surprising strength- and ability to pick up boulders twice his size- that they had actually managed to reach the coffin in the end.

"Let's see," Takigawa said, jumping into the grave and beginning to prise the coffin open.

"Those things are nailed down," Ayako said, inspecting her now very dirty nails. "You won't be able to-"

A cracking sound of wood stopped her. Takigawa peered inside the coffin, the lid in his hand.

"It's been opened," he said. "And the grave was probably filled with rocks on purpose."

"How do you know?" Mai asked.

"The skull's missing," he replied.

Naru thought for a moment before turning to the woman. "Do you know of anyone who would have done this? Who hated your father?"

The woman looked at the floor. "There are many. He wasn't known for his kindness. But it was probably the children, from the town nearby- he hated them, and vice versa."

"Where would they have hidden it?" Ayako said. "The skull, I mean."

"Somewhere in the house," Naru replied. "The spirit still resides here; therefore it wants someone to find it here."

"The tombs.." the woman said. "They're the only place that can be accessed from outside the house. It's got to be there."

"Tombs?" Takigawa's voice drifted up. "There are tombs underneath this place?"

"Yes," the woman replied, motioning for people to follow her and pulling up a trapdoor. "All our ancestors were buried in there. No-one goes down there nowadays- the roof's a bit damp down there and we're worried it'll collapse."

"Thrilling," Ayako muttered.

Lin descended down the thin iron ladder first. Naru leaned over.

"It's safe?"

"Yes," Lin's voice came.

"So he does speak?" John asked the rest of them quietly.

The group all climbed down into a dark tunnel.

"Can someone help me out of this grave?" Takigawa yelled. Everyone ignored him.

* * *

"Masako? Can you feel anything?"

Masako nodded at Ayako. "Down there. It's where the spirits are strongest."

She pointed down a tunnel on the left. Ayako shrugged and began to walk down it.

"Anyone got a torch?" she yelled. Lin nodded and, as if out of nowhere, pulled a torch and shone it down the tunnel.

"Creepy," John said, following Ayako.

"This place smells," Ayako complained. "How far in would these kids have gone?"

"Split up," Naru said. "It'll be quicker that way. Masako, take the tunnel to the right. John, go down that one, Ayako down there. Lin and I'll take this one. Mai...you go down the one to the right. If you don't find anything then get straight out."

"You mean if we don't find it the case is closed?" Ayako asked, surprised.

"We've solved the problem. The family can fix it." Naru said coldly.

The group split up. Mai peered down her tunnel, trying to see what was down there. Lin and Naru had taken the only torch with them.

"Damn," she muttered as she hit a wall. It was oddly slimy.

"Ugh." She progressed a little further, wondering why in all the cases Naru had ever taken her along on, she ended up in a dark place...alone. Or not.

Mai twisted as an odd sound came from behind her.

"Hello?" she asked, trying not to start screaming. There was no further sound. Mai turned and started walking again, wondering if it had just been a rat. There was another scraping behind her.

"Bou-san? Is that you?"

A burst of light filled the tunnel. Mai jumped backwards, banging her arm hard against the wall.

"Who were you talking to?" Mai recognised Naru's voice. She relaxed, her heart still beating a little faster than normal.

"I thought I heard something..." she said, twisting to look at the wall behind her. There was nothing there.

"Save your attention for the task at hand," Naru said coldly. "I don't pay you to imagine things."

Mai clenched her hands into fists, anger overcoming the fluttering sensation in her stomach as Naru turned away.

"Bastard," she muttered, just loud enough for him to hear. Naru paused for a moment before walking on.

Mai turned back towards the wall as the light faded, face flushed. Why did she feel so flustered whenever Naru was around? Especially when it was so obvious that he didn't return them._ You__ wish he did_, a voice in Mai's head said, as she slumped to the ground, head in hands. Sometimes, when she was talking, or laughing with John or Takigawa, she caught sight of Naru, gazing at her, the faintest hint of a smile on his lips, and she grew hopeful once again- only to be shot down by one of his cold, heartless comments.

* * *

Further up the tunnel, Naru stopped once again. He'd been mean to Mai again, even though it made him hate himself. Sometimes, when he saw her staring, with happiness in her eyes, at Takigawa, or John- even Lin, when the man thanked her politely for the tea she brought him, part of his soul yearned to see that happiness directed at him. 

Of course, the sensible business side of him threw these emotions aside. Naru was ambitious, and feelings for a girl as irresponsible and troublesome as Mai would just get in the way. He kept telling himself they would pass, that soon she would just be his ditzy, smiling assistant again.

Only they never did, and she never was. She was never_ just_ anything.

_Isn't it time you made yourself happy? _Gene's voice echoed in his head. _You spend your life fixing things for other people, and you have no-one to do the same for you. Isn't it time you did something for yourself?_

Naru thought for a minute, eyes fixed on the floor. Decisively, he turned back, taking only a few steps down the tunnel before twisting round again. He shook his head. Hearing the voice of his dead brother, and now being unsure about something? He was losing his touch.

Stick to the plan, Naru, he told himself. He'd got his entire future mapped out, and now was not the time to be changing it. Stick to the plan.

* * *

Eventually, Mai stood up, wiping the mud off the back of her skirt and jumper. The skull obviously wasn't there, and she had already heard four sets of feet climbling up the ladder- probably Masako, John, Ayako and Naru. Lin would be staying behind to photograph the tunnels with the new camera Naru had ordered, which presumably showed spirits as it did humans. She hadn't seen the evidence of it actually working, but she'd seen the bill. 

A low rumbling noise caught her attention. She spun round.

"Takigawa, if that's you, it's not funny!" she snapped. "Or Naru, if this is some stupid joke you and Masako have cooked up to make me look stupid-"

She stopped as a trickle of dust and soil hit her head and fell down her cheek. She looked upwards, to see a crack breaching across the ceiling.

"Oh no."

* * *

Naru had been standing, stuck, in that position for a good ten minutes, when he heard Mai cry something incomprehensible from further down the tunnel.

Immediately, he dropped the torch, running as fast as he could towards the source of the sound. He knew what was happening before he could see the chunks of rock and mud crashing around him. As he turned a corner, he could see Mai, pressing herself against a wall with terror in her eyes, trying to avoid the cave-in.

"The tombs are collapsing!" Mai screamed.

"Mai, move!" he yelled as she turned to face him, eyes frozen with fear.

She didn't budge. A lump of solidified mud struck Naru heavily on the back of the head, knocking him off his feet and forward. He crashed into Mai, who fell backwards with Naru on top of her, under a heap of rubble collapsing. Trying to move, he realised that Mai had been knocked unconscious, and, although there was still time for him to get out, he couldn't leave her. There was no way he would be able to get up the ladder carrying her.

Another rock hit him heavily on the back and he slammed back down onto the floor, half his body covering Mai's limp form.He attempted weakly to move the rocks away from her, and himself, but more kept falling. The back of his head began throbbing heavily as more and more rocks and mud covered he and Mai's bodies, pressed together, his face an inch from hers.

_If I weren't about to die, _he thought before he blacked out_, I'd probably be enjoying this right now..._

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**Couldn't resist the angst, people...sorry!**

**Review please!!!**


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